Corporate court jesters: How Indian comics are blurring the line between comedy and advertising

British author George Monbiot branded Bono and Bob Geldof "the bards of the powerful" for their cosy ties with leaders like George W Bush and Tony Blair. Have some of India's finest comedic minds become the court jesters of corporate India?

The jester inherited earth (in a metaphorical sense). When we wrote that line earlier this year, little did we know we'd ventured into Nostradamus territory! The world has fallen, for now, at the feet of a band of digital-era comedians. Stand-up comedians, most of them, who've become national brands. They've come a long way from drab corporate shows populated with bodies in suits more keen on the free Jack than japes to become online stars who exercise a seemingly irrational degree of influence on digital natives.

Naturally, marketers noticed people gravitating to these famous funnybodies and their YouTube videos about Bollywood geniuses, newsroom shenanigans and everything in between. And diligently the marketer followed. Today, they leverage the comedy stars' reach, for their own brands, either through endorsements or creative collaborations because comedians have a finger on the crowd's pulse.

Comedy is social currency and, when done well, is a surefire way to embed your brand in social conversation. So, it's clear why consumer brands are clamouring for laughs, praying for one viral video, sidesplitting sketch or the crooning cat kind, that bryngeth in somer or maketh a brand. What's not crystal, however, is what's in it for the comedian? Apart from, of course, money. Seth Herzog, a writer on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, said in an Adweek article from 2011: "To make money in comedy before this, you had to develop a sitcom, or you toured on the road. Now, all of a sudden . . . it's like we found a pool of money in the middle of the desert."

Let's face it, one can't live on just giggles and pennies. Nonetheless, is this new generation of comedians not afraid of chipping away at their credibility or being branded a shill? The purists have always stayed away from endorsements and marketing. Bill Hicks, the demi-god of comedy, once said, "If you do an advert then you are off the artistic register forever." A damning indictment only topped by his delightful moniker for advertising and marketing professionals. He called them "Satan's little helpers".

A title that could reasonably extend to Hick's ilk and, quite frankly, most artistic kind, at least the successful ones. The likes of Jerry Seinfeld who said "I love advertising because I love lying" during an ad award acceptance speech. Seinfeld lies for brands like Acura all the time, a company that sponsors his web series 'Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee' which features a stellar line-up of America's funniest. And Ricky Gervais, among others.

But, somehow, Seinfeld & Co. have retained the license to mock. Often by ridiculing the very act of "selling out" while shilling for a brand. "I will not bow to any sponsor," said Mike Myers in 'Wayne's World' as he took a slice of pie from a Pizza Hut box that occupied as much of the frame as the Canadian's face.

"I don't think Indian comedians are getting into the ad business. The ad business is going to them," says Ogilvy adman and standup comedian, Neville Shah who is a part of the Schitzengiggles group. "For me, it's two different careers. And two different motivations. Comedy is what lets me say the things advertising won't let me. I can make a clear boundary between comedy and advertising. And I've been successful, so far." Indian comedians are drawing their own lines between staying true their art, and fans, and lending their comedic chops to corporations who've developed a sense humour, suddenly. "There is no artist in this country that makes money without brands getting involved," says popular comedy troupe All India Bakchod's co-founder Tanmay Bhat, "brands sponsor live shows, video content, online activity - everything."

The sweet spot lies in the quality of your comedy. "In my experience, if the content you make, even if it's for a brand, is engaging enough -people don't care," says Bhat.

Atul Khatri's approach is to exercise common sense. He is a member of East India Comedy and has collaborated with ad agency Infectious for a series of commercials for Religare, last year. Recently he featured in an Amazon campaign. So, we ask him what if Amazon has an epic fail on a big sale day, would that be material for his next tweet? "My commitment is to my followers," he tells us. Even though AIB's association with Snapdeal ended months ago, "we still get tagged in tweets where people received soaps instead of phones, so this is a part and parcel of working with brands," says Bhat. "Smarter folks know that the people who endorse the brand aren't necessarily responsible for their screw ups." Irrespective of their associations past, present or future, he says AIB doesn't censor its material based on brand affiliations, "that's just our style. What that means is we'll only be working with brands who have a sense of humor, naturally." That, it seems, is pretty much most brands across diverse categories, nowadays. One of the country's most prolific brand endorsers is the prime time comedian Kapil Sharma, who appears in commercials for Olx, PolicyBazaar, Honda and Micromax. His show 'Comedy Nights with Kapil' is a must visit destination for a Bollywood star on a promotional tour.

There are some, however, who abide by the Hicks Rule still. Varun Grover of Aisi Taisi Democracy believes "a comedian is supposed to be anti-mainstream or anti-establishment. It could be political or corporate. By doing this (ie forming ad agencies, etc), they are diluting their own brand equity or moral stand; whatever you want to call it. I think most of them are doing it consciously and have made that choice. I also have made my choice." And Grover doesn't want in on the shill-ing joke.

Who killed the agency?

The Joker did with a candlestick in the library

Hilarity, disguised as existential hysterics, ensued in the ad world after one of the country's most popular, and controversial, comedy troupe, All India Bakchod (AIB) launched an advertising division — Vigyapanti. Its maiden video not only flooded AIB's inbox with emails from 130 startups but also threw up some valid questions like who's working for whom? Is it an AIB video for TrulyMadly or a Truly-Madly video by AIB? And worried some industry folk who wonder if the videos should carry qualifiers like 'Sponsored'. But, the news has also sounded the death knell for advertising as we know it, according to most twitterers.

However, let's put this development's implications for ad agencies in perspective. Because, surely, the likes of Vir Das' Weirdass Comedy, The Viral Fever's Qtiyapa and AIB's Vigyapanti with a raison dêtre to "make small brands (startups) massive" can't be a $600 billion global industry's biggest threat. Unless P&G, PepsiCo and other MNCs park their entire portfolio with this lot. Instead of fretting about a growing number of established comedians entering the branded content fray, which might improve creative standards which have hit Mariana Trenchlows in recent years; create compelling and, more importantly, effective work. In the US, agencies are successfully co-habiting advertising with comedic content creators like dumbdumb founded by Will Arnett and Jason Bateman for years. Thinkmodo, the agency known for shockvertising hits 'Devil Baby' and the telekinetic coffee shop prank, is co-founded by Saturday Night Live's James Percelay. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Funny Or Die has deployed its army of comedians led by Zach Galifianakis to work with brands like Pepsi, Under Armour and the Obama administration, often in tandem with agencies. Says Snapdeal's Idi Srinivas Murthy, "Larger agencies have to deal with optimising for a large audience. Content creators on the other hand are born in one space or style of humour and get more popular. I don't think it means traditional agencies will go away but I think definitely there will be a lot of growth in this space of specialised audience based, genre based, content makers."

Content creators, for lack of a better term, know their fans and are the experts on funny, but not necessarily on the business of marketing. As Publicis South Asia's Bobby Pawar, the agency that created perhaps this year's best, and funniest, commercial for Ambuja Cement featuring WWE World Champion, Khali, puts it: "The question is did my brand become famous or did the content? That's the difference between entertainers and guys who understand brands and know how to entertain. Let's be blunt here. The same clients who give them all the freedom tie us up in chains." Where's the bolt-cutter, then?